OS X and 64-bit support

[hmurchison]

Personally I think OSX will be 64bit by 10.5.

I doubt you see an appreciable performance boost in most applications. The apps will be able to address much more memory but to date scientific apps and other huge number cruncher apps benefit from 64 bit. Todays apps are generally fine processing 32 bit chunks of data.

[elvis]

Apple promosed 64bit support in 10.3, but ended up chucking it in the "too hard" basket.

10.4 (codenamed "Tiger") will be previewed at the next Apple WWDC. I truly am hoping they've sorted out their 64-bit dramas by then, and don't end up putting it off yet again to 10.5.

Intel are releasing their 64bit CPUs in the late June to early August period (that doesn't mean they'll be ready for purchase by Joe average by then, of course). But at this rate Windows will have a 64bit version before MacOSX does if Apple don't pull their collective fingers out.

Of course, there's always linux! :)

http://www.linuxppc64.org/
http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/20040531-newsletter.xml

[Crazzy Legs]

Reading a release document related to 10.3, lead me to belive that a couple small 64-bit functions are already beeing used. However, I know barely any are, otherwise, Apple would of mentioned them. I'm sure Apple will make a huge advertising campaign out of a 64-bit OS when they finally get it. By all means, as soon as they have it, I'll send them my money for the OS :)
I'm perfectly happy with 10.3.4.

What will a 64-bit OS mean for older software. Will Maya 5.0.1 run quicker?

[elvis]

Originally posted by Crazzy Legs
What will a 64-bit OS mean for older software. Will Maya 5.0.1 run quicker?

Search the tech forus for "64 bit". This question has been answered in extreme technical detail a number of times over.

[onscreen]

Apple will need to have the BSD 64bit code inorder to have 64bit OSX. Time will come.

[elvis]

Originally posted by onscreen
Apple will need to have the BSD 64bit code inorder to have 64bit OSX. Time will come.

The fact that it is BSD means Apple don't have to wait for squat, and can code it for themselves if they really want.

That's the beauty of the BSD license.

[Beamtracer]

The BSD core of Mac OS X (the innards of the operating system) is already 64-bit. This is how the G5 computer can access 8 gigs of RAM.

When you load multiple apps at once on a G5, you can access the full 8 gigs of RAM.

I think what people are wondering about is when a single application can access 8 gigs of RAM. That is coming soon.


PS.. Don't forget that when you load an application up in the current OS X that takes 4 gigs of memory, this is separate from the OS. The app gets that 4 gigs to itself, and the OS is in a separate sector of RAM, which can exceed a total of 4 gigs. The point is that when you run 32-bit apps on a G5 with the current OS, you still get to access more RAM because you are using 64-bit hardware. On a conventional 32-bit computer, both your OS and applications must fit into less than 4 gigs of RAM.

[elvis]

Originally posted by Beamtracer
The BSD core of Mac OS X (the innards of the operating system) is already 64-bit.

You sure about that? 64-bit hardware addressing and a NUMA aware OS are vastly different things to a 64-bit kernel subsystem.

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.